“Move.” He prodded me along until we came to an empty cage near the back wall, then he kicked the door open. “Inside.”
I ducked under the low frame and stepped in. The floor of the cage was coated in gray ash smeared across the floorboards, thick enough to leave footprints, and the faint smell of long-forgotten smoke hovered in the air.
The cage door slammed shut behind me with a heavy clang. A lock clicked into place and my claustrophobia reared its head, but I steadied my breathing. This was temporary, and I had what I needed to release myself. This wasn’t forever.
“You get meals three times a day unless you talk. Now drink this.” He shoved the cup at me. I took it but didn’t drink. He had to have put something in it.
“I’m not leaving until you drink,” the slaver said, staring at me with unblinking eyes. He jingled the keys in his hand and I let my gaze drop down to study them before slowly lifting the cup to my lips and letting the drink fill my mouth, but I didn’t swallow. Instead, I mimicked the motion.
“You aren’t the first to try that trick,” he chuckled. “If it’s gone, open your mouth. If any comes out, you get a double dose and I’ll force it down your throat.”
After a moment’s hesitation, I swallowed and opened my mouth to show it was gone.
“That’s better,” he purred. “Do as you’re told and we won’t have any trouble.”
His footsteps faded and across the room, someone coughed weakly. The moment he was out of sight, I jammed my fingers to the back of my throat and vomited as quietly as I could into the corner of my cell. How much was left in my system? Would I still be affected?
I heaved until nothing more was left in my stomach and my abdomen was sore. Already, there was a faint fogginess to my thoughts, but they were still my own. At least the smell in the building was already bad enough that I hadn’t made it much worse with my vomit.
I sank back against the bars and waited for several minutes, memorizing the features of each guard as he passed and counting the time between patrols. The guards paid little attention to the prisoners and frequently paused at the doors and windows, checking for any outsiders attempting to force their way in.
Peter had been right. This place would be difficult or impossible to attack from the outside. But fortunately for me, I wasn’t on the outside. I carefully slipped my fingers into the hidden pocket sewn into my tunic.
The tools and small wooden block Peter and Lochlan had given me early that morning were still there.
Good.
Getting inside had been easy enough. Now I needed to find a way to get the information I wanted and get out.
It took morethan an hour to slowly whittle the wood into roughly the same size and shape of the guard’s key I’d seen. I had to keep my knees propped up to block what I was doing from the view of any guards passing by, but by keeping my head down, I went unnoticed, just another unspeaking, uncaring one of the masses.
In between guard rotations, I slipped the key into the lock. I’d guessed the size well and it slid in part way, then hit some sort of barrier. I withdrew the key and studied it. I needed to find a way to know which part of the key needed to be cut or shaved down.
After another moment of consideration, I spat into the ash on the floor and mixed it to make a sort of thin paste that I rubbed all over the key. Once it was fully coated, I reinserted the key and gently tried to turn. It hit whatever mechanism in the lock was still there, and I carefully pulled it back out and resumed my position with my knees bent and head bowed just in time for the next round of patrols.
There, dug into the ash paste, were a few small dents where the lock’s interior tumblers had rubbed away the ash. I carefully shaved down those spots, rubbed more paste onto the key, and when the guards paced out of the room where I was held, I tried again.
It took five times repeating the actions, slowly whittling the key where it didn’t quite fit the lock until all the appropriate nocks were in place and I felt the tumblers begin to shift when I turned the key. Vicious satisfaction flashed through me. I had succeeded.
A bell rang somewhere in the depths of the building, and all around me, the other prisoners finally began to move, shifting up to get as close as possible to their cell doors.
I shoved the key into my tunic and imitated the others, crowding closer to the cell door and letting my short blonde hair fall over my eyes as I kept my head down. A knot of guards were circulating around the cages, shoving food between the bars.
Around me, the other prisoners devoured their bread like starving animals. The man next to me, who had been sleeping most of the day, shoved the whole slice into his mouth all at once, barely chewing before swallowing. A girl across the aisle clutched hers with both hands and ate in frantic little bites, her eyes darting toward the guards as if afraid they might take it back.
When they handed me mine, I purposely fumbled my slice of bread so it fell next to the bars and the hungry prisoner in the next cell over shot out a hand to snatch it up.
The guards laughed at this, watching as I silently pressed my face against the bars to watch the prisoner eat my slice of bread. For his sake, I hoped it wasn’t drugged, but I couldn’t risk eating it if it was.
“Too bad,” one said mockingly. “That’s all there is until this evening.”
They moved on to finish handing out the allotments of bread and, once done, circled the cages again, this time with a bucket and dipper of water. They paused and handed the dipper between the bars to each prisoner but didn’t stop to watch if the person drank or not, the way my guard had done when I first arrived.
When they came to my cell, I let the dipper touch my lips, tilting it just enough that it looked convincing and allowed a tiny portion to sit in my mouth as I lowered the dipper and handed it back. The moment the guard turned his back, I let thewater dribble out onto the ground, where the ash swallowed it instantly, leaving only a darker patch that faded as the moisture spread.
I would’ve bet everything in my account that that bucket of water was drugged as well. I kept my head down and listened as the guards talked while giving the others their drink.
“Boss said the new intakes need to be logged tonight.”
